Pleasantville woman says she and her husband were victims of antisemitic attack at Jacob Burns Film Center

Francine Goldstein said she organized a letter-writing campaign to get a movie called "October 8" shown at the Pleasantville theater.

Jade Nash

Apr 2, 2025, 9:54 PM

Updated 20 hr ago

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A Pleasantville woman says she and her husband were victims of an antisemitic attack at Jacob Burns Film Center.
Francine Goldstein said she organized a letter-writing campaign to get a movie called "October 8" shown at the Pleasantville theater.
As News 12 reported, Goldstein said she requested that the film be played after learning "No Other Land," a Palestinian-based documentary, was going to be shown.
"Then I got a text message on Friday afternoon from my daughter that they had agreed to screen it," Goldstein said.
Goldstein said the news excited her and her husband so much that they went to the theater to buy tickets.
However, when she got to the box office, she said one of the workers initially refused to sell them tickets.
"And I said, 'What do you mean no? They're not on sale yet? Or what do you mean no?' He said, 'I will never sell tickets to that movie,'" Goldstein said.
Goldstein said the response confused them, so they asked to speak to a manager. This is when she said the original worker that they were dealing with started to become emotional.
"This guy was very belligerent and cursing us. Calling us...Calling us 'murderers,'" Goldstein said.
Goldstein said her husband responded back to the worker by calling him "a nazi."
She said her husband also wrote an email to the theater about the incident that they felt was "clearly antisemitic."
"We did get an apology, the next day, I believe. But nothing. They said they would investigate and then we heard nothing more and we're just shocked," Goldstein said.
A spokesperson for the film center said tickets for the movie were not on sale at the time of the incident.
They issued a statement saying, “The safety and well-being of all those in our space is our top priority, and we require both our staff and patrons to treat each other with respect."
The spokesperson said they also conducted an investigation and reviewed footage of the incident.
However, Goldstein said she is still in shock and wants the worker to be fired.